Hello everyone ~
I have read the 2003 posts about this subject and have some questions.
My GWP, Hank, is turning a year. While enjoying intermediate obedience,
we found he has an attraction to Agility .
We just started a "foundation" agility class with low impact. So far, a lot of the stuff we are doing, we did in obedience.
Hank has been trained for hunting since he came home with us. Agility is for off-season mental activity and our problem is the tug toy/ game the teacher wants us to play. We have never played this tug-a-war game/ toy and I don't want to start something and have to correct it later.
This is such a fun sport and I can't wait to see how Hank and I do.
Any feedback would help a lot
Cory & Hank

Agility is a great off-season activity for hunting dogs. It requires the dog to be independent but still work with you. I've trained 3 GWPs for agility and I've never used a tug-of-war game. The instructor has the right idea about getting the dog excited about the activity, but there are lots of ways you can do this. You need to find what your dog is excited about. Mine are just excited enough about doing agility so I don't really use anything to get them going.

I can't see why tugging would have any bad effect. During Force Retrieve training, trainers often pull, tap objects that a pup is holding so that the dog doesn't release too soon or has a firm grip. I use this tugging play to teach a dog to release on command, that ultimately the object belongs to me when I want it. I would definitely NOT let a dog start chewing.
You're not going to be tugging with game, so the proper behavior association with game will and should be different.

Maybe I didn't understand your concern, but I don't see a problem here as long as your training with game retrieve is completed properly.

I started agility with my westie several years ago and my instructor at that time told me I needed to get my dog interested in playing tug of war. My westie just plain won't do that. What I found with her is that she would do ANYTHING for a treat! I merely substituted that for the tug of war and she has become a very good agility dog.

I also began agility with our GWP this past February. The instructor I have now (different school) never even asked us to do the tug of war so I haven't had to worry about the issue. He has done a great job learning agility with only using treats and a lot of times he won't even look to me for a treat after we do somthing - he does it because he is just plain having fun!